Happy New Year plus Goal Setting Templates!

Happy New Year to everyone! What a fun year this last year has been. Thank you for checking in throughout the year to see what we have been up to. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to have a reason to chat more with my sisters, and this blog has been that reason. Yes, we talk everyday anyways, but the blog gave us specific things to gab about! ;)

I have a 3 ring binder that I have labeled my Year In Review, Milestones, and Who Am I Binder. I love this binder. It is a quick way to see what my family has done over the years. I thought it might be something that other people might also want to utilize. I just print these sheets out, punch holes in them, and slip them into my 3 ring binder. I suppose you could just slip the pages into page protectors in a 3 ring binder, as well.

Really for the Year In Review and the Goals it is the same basic template. It is one square for each month. Nothing long will fit in these small boxes. It is just to be summaries.

For the Year In Review I just write in what we did, or any milestones my children achieve, under the correct month. Some ideas would be family trip to California, baby’s first tooth, Riding a bike with no training wheels (which one of my kids just did, thank you to a new bike from Santa!), any parties we attended, etc. I also write in things like started soccer, took art lessons, etc. It is pretty cool to look back and see just what your year included, all in one glance!

I do actually print up 4 Year In Reviews for each year. This is for one for the entire family, and then one for each child. So I write down each child’s milestone on their own Year In Review page for the year. When you go to doctor’s appointments you can also fill in the child’s stats in that month.

For the Goals I write in things I want to try and do during that month with my children. This helps me to focus and prioritize my year. I always plug in family vacations, camping trips, and any themes we are focusing on for the month (service themes as well as character points that we are working on). On the back of this paper I also list goals that are not specific to one month. I have my kids help me with this for many reasons. One reason is that it is a fun thing to do as a family. Another reason is to help my kids feel included. The last reason is so that I can actually see the kinds of things that are important to them. I try really hard to listen to who my kids are and what they really want.

The color page at the top is just a fun one with neat fonts and in color. I prefer that one. The one just above here is just a plain template so that you can customize it to fit your needs, or just if you like a more sleek look.

These next few are just so that you have options of what you would like. You could print out the above and the template below and be ready for pondering these fun things tonight at your New Year’s Eve party! Even if you had not filled the 2009 one in along the way, it is probably still pretty easy to think back and be able to still fill this in. However, once you wait more than about a year, you will forget many neat details.

If you do go back and fill this out for the last year, it would probably be a fun thing to do tonight. I pull out my completed Year In Review and go over it with my kids, on New Year’s Eve. It is fun to think about what a fun, crazy, and busy life we had the last year. While we are at it we also usually go through our other year’s as well. Just because it is fun to reminisce.

This last one is my Who Am I chart. I actually try to fill this out a couple of times a year for each of my children. Some years I have done it around 4 times, other years I just do it once. I try to at least fill this out at New Years, and around their Birthday. It is easy for me to remember to do this during those times! I love looking back and seeing what cute sayings my children were saying, or the other fun details that you forget about!

I hope you all had a fantastic 2009, and I wish you all a very Happy New Year! Yay 2010!!

Rebecca

Letter To Santa

Around this time of year my children start mentioning items that they want (thank you commercials!). I always tell them to ask Santa for it. Then after a few times I start telling them to just add it to their list (meaning list to Santa). I finally got smart after a few years of trying to keep this “list” in my head and totally forgetting items. Then, we’d hurriedly write a list one day (which is really only what they could think of that moment and not what they really wanted), to mail off to Santa. How I got smart was to finally make up a cute blank list to print up and hang on the fridge for my kids to add to their list when inspiration strikes. I thought I would share it with you. We have already printed ours out and have our lists on the fridge. This is also helpful for when friends and family ask what my kids would like.

Just so you know, when it is closer to Christmas I actually print another one out and have the kids write their actual Letter To Santa on this. Always remember to have the kids also add the date and their age to these letters. You think you will remember, but I never can remember which year that letter went with exactly!

Rebecca

Technorati Tags: christmas,wish list,printable

Advent/ Countdown Calendar Revisit

This year for Christmas in July, we did a whole week of advent /countdown calendars. We posted 4 fabulous tutorials and a bonus 5th advent calendar highlight just to get your creative juices flowing. There is still time before Christmas to get yours made in time for December 1st.

My Favorite Advent Calendar So Far, Anjeanette show off an Advent Calendar she made for her family a few years ago. She shows off the beautiful felt ornaments that she made. It's the little details that take an ornament from nice to WOW!

Fabric Paper-type Advent Calendar Chain, This is a great NO-SEW project! Check out Anjeanette's tutorial to find out how she made it. The fabric chain can be used as an Advent Calendar or just for decoration. Best of all it is reusable year after year!

Fabric Candy or Activity Advent Calendar, Rebecca shows us how she did a remake of an Advent Calendar her Mother made when they were kids. She has added a fun new twist to this old favorite. Instead of tying candy to the calendar she has tied little scrolls of paper with activities planned for each day. She has even included her list just to give you ideas of what kinds of things she has planned for her children.

Framed Advent/Countdown Calendar -2 ways, Katrina has put together a tutorial to show you how she turned her Advent Calendar into a work of art. Recycle or rather upcycle an old frame for a new life! Included are templates for making the Advent Calendar itself.

Christmas in July Advent Calendar #1 Pizza anyone? Anjeanette turns an inexpensive pizza pan into this lovely Advent Calendar. Plus earn how to make your own transfer paper.

So many choices so little time!!! We hope we have inspired you to make your own Advent Calendar for this year. If you already have one, maybe you have seen something here that will make you want to make a new one. Let it be known that the Roots and Wings Girls all have more than one Advent Calendar each. After all we have more than one child each. ;) Maybe more calendars makes each day that much more special. Can we make Christmas last twice as long if we have two calendars?

Thanks for stopping by!! Happy Holidays!

The Roots and Wings Co Girls

Technorati Tags: Christmas,crafts

The Roots and Wings Girls are thankful and we plan to share what we are thankful for at the bottom of all our posts this month.

I am thankful for my son's Autism. I am thankful because it has given me a gift. Life has slowed down a bit and I get to witness amazing miracles every day. I don't take for granted the miracle of speech and communication. I don't take for granted that my boys are able to connect with others. I don't take for granted that my boys can show their love and affection. I don't take for granted that my 7 year old still wants to snuggle with me that he needs that connection. He is still a very independent boy but isn't afraid to need me still. Autism is a challenge for my son and our whole family but it isn't something that is going to stop us. We work a little harder to do everyday things but all in all life is good. It has also made me grateful for how truly fantastic our family and friends are. So many families with autistic children aren't understood by even their own families. Our families get it and are supportive in every way they know how. I am thankful for all their love and support. I guess I listed two things I am thankful for today. What are you thankful for?

Katrina

White Chocolate Ghost Suckers

White Chocolate Ghost Suckers are a must have for Halloween. It’s another one of those things that I have no idea when my Mom started doing this. I just know that she always made these for us, growing up. Of course that was in the days where you could bring homemade goodies to share with the class. My Mom was always the room Mother (well, truthfully I think she rotated through all 4 of us kids, but she’d still be there helping out even when she wasn’t THE room Mom). She would make these for all of us to give to our classmates. Once I moved out on my own, I started making these myself, as I couldn’t imagine having a Halloween without these!

They are so quick and easy, and cute! You will love them! Here is a template that you can use for your suckers.

Print out your template and gather your other supplies. You need white chocolate, mini chocolate chips, sucker sticks, and wax paper.

Place your ghost template underneath a sheet of wax paper. The wax paper can shift around on you so you might want to tape it down. I don’t find that necessary myself.

I melt my white chocolate in a ziplock baggie. I microwave it for 30 seconds and then squish the bag. Then, I microwave in 10 second increments until it becomes the right consistency. You want it thin so that it will run out of the bag easily. I then smoosh it all to one corner and snip off a tiny piece of the tip of the corner.

Next you just fill in the template using the white chocolate. Add the sucker stick about halfway up the ghost (stopping about at the ghosts “belly button”). You will have to twist the stick to make sure it is covered all the way in white chocolate.

Now you add 2 mini chocolate chips for the eyes. I have substituted M&Ms, or other things. But, trust me on this one, you want to use mini chocolate chips. They are so much cuter. I try to make the eyes look the same direction by making sure the tops of the chocolate chips go off to the same side.

Here are all my suckers filled in, eyes added, and sticks covered. Refrigerate them for about an hour before you pull them right off of the wax paper. They are ready to go. I like to put them in those cute cellophane bags and then tie them off with pretty ribbons. Since these are the first of the season though, they will just be for my kids and so no wrapping is necessary. You can make these ahead of time and just keep them in the refrigerator until you need them. I’m not sure how long chocolate stays good…I don’t think any lasts very long around my house. ;)

I really hope you try this as it is one of my favorite treats at Halloween. Add pictures of yours to our flikr group!

Rebecca

PS Thanks Mom, for all the great traditions. You are such an inspiration to me, and have given me so many wonderful things to pass on to my own children, to make life more special. And you’ve given me so many great ways to celebrate with my children!

~~~~~

Katrina here… with an allergy friendly option.

I made these with Gluten, Dairy, Nut and Soy Free chocolate chips from Enjoy life. The candies are also gluten and dairy free.

I simply used the bat template from Anjeanette’s Inspiration post and the a cat clip are from my Photoshop Elements program.

Thanks Rebecca for the inspiration for these!!

Technorati Tags: halloween,candy,chocolate,ghost,bat,cat,tutorial,easy,kids crafts

Fall Pumpkin and Leaf Garland

When I think of Fall, I think of oranges, yellows and reds. I think of leaves changing color and falling in piles on the ground. It has been 30 years since I lived on the East Coast but I have never let go of that ideal. I think of jumping in huge piles of colorful leaves and pumpkin picking. These are my inspirations for this garland.

I made a bow for each end with a silk sun flower hot glued to the center.

My leaves are falling with the help of fishing line.

I couldn’t be more thrilled with the result. I can hardly wait for this post to go out! When the fan is on the leaves spin and flutter in the breeze. I just LOVE IT!!

If you would like to see more on how I made the pumpkins, I have a tutorial below.

1. You can cut 3 pumpkins out at once. Fold your fabric in half and then again in thirds.

2. I like to cut a section off the fabric to make it easier to cut around the curves.

3. Once you have cut out your pumpkin shapes and un-pinned the pattern, remove the top fabric piece and place it on the bottom of the pile. You now have 3 sets of right sides together pumpkins.

4. Sew two pumpkin pieces on top of two layers of batting. Leave an opening at the top so you can turn it right side out. I choose to leave my opening at the top where the stem will help to hide the hand sewn seam. I did all of my pumpkins assembly line style.

5. After you have sewn the batting onto the fabric, trim around the edges. Then turn your pumpkin right side out and hand stitch the opening closed.

Once you have it right side out and closed. Stitch in your lines to give your pumpkin added detail. I suggest you start at the bottom and stitch towards the top. This way any puckering or shifting of the fabric will happen where the step and leaves will cover it up. Though, I didn’t have much trouble with puckering happening.

I varied the number and angle of the lines to give each pumpkin it’s own personality.

6. I made my stem shapes by folding my felt over and placing my template on top (leaving the fold at the top of the stem un-cut). Then I stitched along the narrow part of the stem to give it added strength and a finished look.

7. Since I will be sewing through both sides at once, I was careful to match up both sides of the stem while pinning it down. I started with one corner and then flipped the pumpkin over to match as closely as possible the same corner on the opposite side. When I put the pin back up through the back layer, I made sure that the pin came out as approximately the same spot on the front. Stitch a straight stitch matching up with the stitch you did on the narrow portion all the way around.

8. I added some ribbing detail to the stems to mimic the ribs on real pumpkins. This also ensures that both sides are secure if you missed an edge on the backside.

9. My pumpkins are two sided since you can see this from the hallway. I used the same technique for the leaves as I did with the stem. I matched up two similar sized silk leaves and pinned down the center vein line. Carefully stitch along that line to hide your stitches.

(You can find these leaves in bags at Walmart for about $1.00 or buy a silk branch of fall leaves and carefully remove the leaves). I have had my leaves for a few years and I got them off a silk branch.

String your pumpkins on ribbon. For an added touch thread a pipe cleaner through the stem and wind the ends around your fingers.

For the hanging fall leaves I threaded fishing line through them and placed a knot between each. I simply threaded the end through the ribbon and tied it off.

I made my own bows and hot glued the flowers in the middle for an added touch.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to have this hanging in my archway! My pumpkins sparkle with gold glitter and the leaves float and “fall” in the breeze.

Katrina

Because you asked for it……and because I am loving the comments (keep them coming)! ;)

Here are the templates for my pumpkins and stems. Alas my scanner is broken. :( So I have taken a picture of my templates for you. You can right click this image and save it. Please use it for your personal use only. Our crafts are intended for you to enjoy or even to give as gifts but not to make money off of.

When you print out this template be sure that the image size is 7.25 inches wide by 8.6 inches tall. My finished pumpkins measure roughly 6 1/4 inch due to 1/4 inch seams and the batting. Feel free to resize your pumpkins to suit your liking. The trick is to remember that your final product will be about 1 inch smaller than your template.

Katrina

Technorati Tags: Fall,Garland,tutorials,Pumpkins,Leaves

Dishwasher Clean/Dirty Magnet

I don’t know about any of you, but it drives me crazy when my family puts dirty dishes in the sink when the dishwasher is just a few inches away. The biggest issue is that nobody even checks to see if the dishwasher is clean or dirty. For years I have been saying I want to put a sign on the dishwasher that can be flipped to say “Clean” or “Dirty”. Now that my boys are old enough to start putting their own dishes in the dishwasher it seems more important to have a sign.

Since I have one child that does not read yet, I wanted to make sure it would be easy to know which side is which. To me blue means water and bubbles mean soap. For the dirty side I decided to use earthy colors. Funny enough I used a fall image and used the smudge tool. Because each side is very different even my little guy can tell the clean side from the dirty side.

My sign is fairly straight forward.

You will need:

Magnet sheets or those handy magnet ads that come with the phone books.

Your favorite editing program –You are welcome to use my graphics for your signs. Just right click and save.

Printer-I used plain paper

sticker maker or some other kind of adhesive

Contact paper

1. Create your own or resize my sign images to fit your magnet size. Mine are 4x4 inches since that is the size magnets I had.

2. Print and cut out the images on plain paper. The magnets are not very strong so you want the paper as thin as possible.

3. Run your images through your sticker maker. If you have a cartridge that does laminate on one side and adhesive on the other, use it to save you a step.

4. You need two magnet sheets. The magnet ads that came with my phone books are quite thin so I decided to use two to make sure it would stay where I put it. Put adhesive on one or both magnets on the ad side.

5. Stick the sign images on each side of the magnet sandwich.

6. Use contact paper to put a protective cover over your sign. Trim edges.

Now, when we run the dishwasher we flip the sign to the clean side. After we put the clean dishes away we flip it to the dirty side. Right away my boys noticed the new sign and wanted to know what it meant. I no longer have to remind my family that the dishwasher is dirty. At a glance they know to put their dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Hopefully the clean sign will encourage them to put the dishes away too. ;) It is such a simple thing and yet………

Katrina

Technorati Tags: Katrina,organization,dishwasher sign

Framed Advent/Count Down Calendar-2 Ways!!

WAIT! CAN I JUST SAY HOW EXCITED I AM TO BE SHARING THIS WITH ALL OF YOU? I SERIOUSLY HEART MY ADVENT CALENDAR!!! That is not to say that I won't have a pizza pan one and probably one or two of the others we are planning to share. Can you have too many? Naw, I don't think so, unless you can't find a place to store them the other 11 months. ;)

Unlike my husband's family, my family didn't have an advent calendar that was used year after year. I remember that there were some years that we had Advent Calendars with the chocolates behind the windows. For years I had been wanting an advent calendar. I had been on the look out for just the right one. Alas, I didn't care for the ones you can buy in the store. My sister has a great one that is a little ceramic tree and every day you put a ornament (with a peg on the back) that you stick into a slot and it says how many days are left till Christmas. I have looked and looked but could not find one like it. For years I would look through catalogs trying to find one I liked.

Last November I sat down and worked like crazy to get this done in time for December 1st. Lucky for you that I took notes and have my template saved. Also lucky for you that I am sharing this before November 1st! Unlike me you will have plenty of time to make this before December first. This count down calendar involves sewing and a fair amount of it. If you don't sew, scroll to the bottom and see how I made this with Fun Foam (foam sheets you get at the craft store) the first time around.

First you will want to gather your fabric.

I had found some green holly fabric in the remnant bin that I thought would work well for my tree. I love the remnant bins!! I also found some white flannel fabric in the remnant bin that is perfect for the snow covered ground. I used a small piece of brown felt for the tree trunk. I picked blue fabric with stars and swirls because I wanted it to be a night scene. The swirls in the fabric give me the feeling of snow. To me Christmas should always have snow. Even though I have not lived where it snows since I was 5, I still dream of snow for Christmas.

You will also need:

-25 buttons to hang your ornaments from. I found really cute tiny round buttons, though small hands will have a hard time getting the ornaments on to them. So if you have little ones, get larger buttons.

- snow flake buttons with bails on the backs. I found these at my craft store.

-25 mini ornaments. My craft store had them in sets of 12 so I picked up two sets plus another set of 4. It is a good idea to have a few extra, just in case some get lost along the way.

-A frame But don't buy it till you know how tall your finished project will be.

-Spray Paint

-Tacks

-Ribbon

-Batting

-Snaps

Here are the templates I made. You will need to adjust the template sizes to your liking. My finished project ended up being 25 inches wide by 31 inches tall (outer dimensions of the frame).

Top is 4-3/4 inches high by 5 inches wide.

Second from the top is 5-1/4 inches high by 7-1/4 inches wide.

You will need two of this last section. It measures 4-3/4 inches tall by 11 inches wide.

This will be your template for the snow covered ground. I simply taped two pieces of paper together and did a free hand waving line to represent gentle mounds of snow piled on the ground. You will need to go go all the way across your project.

Lay out your templates on your fabric and pin them down while you cut them out. Once you have cut all your pieces out, arrange them on the background fabric. Pin down only the bottom section.

I layered batting behind my blue fabric and pinned it in place. It adds a bit of dimension to my project. I cut out my trunk and pinned it under the bottom layer of the tree. Be sure to leave space at the bottom for your snow covered ground/ornament pocket. I then ran a straight stitch around the edge of my tree section. You don't have to worry about sewing the top edge of the tree section, it will be covered by the next layer.

I then did a satin stitch (a very tight zig zag stitch) all the way around my tree to make it stand out more from the back ground and give it some more dimension. Again I didn't worry about the top edge because it will be covered by the next layer.

I did the same with the next layer. I positioned it so that it just covered the top of the bottom layer. Keep going and do this with all 4 layers of the tree. I then went back with brown thread in my machine and satin stitched around the trunk.

Now for my snow covered ground. I used two layers of the white fabric since it will become my pocket for the ornaments. The best way to get a satin stitch on the edge of the fabric is to sew your satin stitch, then carefully cut the fabric away on one edge. Keep some fabric glue on hand in case you snip the stitching. You can then tack down the thread with a touch of fabric glue. To do this I pinned my paper template over my white fabric and then stitched along the line I had drawn. The paper will tear away easily when you are done.

Now pin your snow where you want it to lay under your tree. That way it does not slip around while your position your snaps. I used two snaps to hold my pocket closed.

At this point I suggest you lay out your ornaments to see how you want them arranged. You will want to make sure that none of them hang down below your snow pocket. You can use pins to mark where you want to sew your buttons. Be sure to account for the total length of the ornament, including the loop. Sew on all your bottoms. When sewing on your snowflake buttons, be sure to check that they will be inside the finished mat area.

I measured my tree and went to a second hand store to find a frame. Don't worry if the frame doesn't look pretty. I can tell you mine did not but the wood was in good condition. I flipped the picture that was in the frame around and used push pins to tack my calendar to the backing. I left the pins holding the snow pocket in place to make sure my pocket was flat and didn't pull away from the snaps while I stretched the calendar over the matting.

Now for that ugly frame. I cleaned it off and sanded a couple of rough spots. I had some navy blue spray paint that I thought would dress up my frame nicely. Wow!! What a difference a couple of coats of paint can make. You will have to trust me on this because I didn't take before pictures of the frame.

P.S. Anjeanette, you should always put paper under your painting projects. I always make sure to have a large area covered to catch the over spray. ;) That way you won't ruin your lawn or have to scatter rocks. ;P

I ended up with a larger frame than I originally thought. So I needed to cover the sides of my calendar. I used the mat that was around the original picture. However, it needed some love. Please forgive my pictures. I did this last year and worked on it mostly at night when the lighting wasn't great.

I added some ribbon around the matting to dress up what was otherwise a fairly unattractive green mat.

Here you can see my ornaments in their pocket.

I LOVE how it turned out and am thrilled to have a nice piece of art to hang on my wall at Christmas time. Though it does have to hang fairly low on the wall so the kids can reach the buttons. Some day when my boys are gown it will simply be a decoration that I will hang on my wall from Thanksgiving weekend till the weekend after New Years.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I promised you a No Sew version of this calendar and here it is.

Use one large piece of blue Fun Foam for the background. Cut out the tree template shown earlier out of green fun foam. Use sticky dots to tack the tree pieces in place, starting with the bottom section and working your way up. If you do scrap booking, you will have brads on hand. Arrange 25 brads randomly around your tree. You can write numbers in a random pattern from 1 to 25 next to the brads if you wish. There is no snow pocket on this one, but you could easily add some white paper or more foam to represent snow on the ground under the tree. You can hang it on the wall with some removable two sided tape or what ever suits you. Keep the ornaments in a bowl on a stool near by.

I have a million versions of this in my head (ok maybe not a million).

You could use Anjeanette's no-sew fusible webbing and iron the fabrics together. Then all you would have to do is sew buttons (or get one of those button gun things). I didn't sew my snow pocket on to the rest of the piece. I tacked it in place around the edges of the art work that was originally in the frame.

If you like working with paper, you could get some poster board and cover it with a background paper and then make layer your tree on top. Use brads instead of buttons to hang your ornaments on the tree. Scrap booking embellishments will give you tons of options for dressing this up. You can still frame this and make it a beautify piece of art work. To hold all your ornaments you can get brass nails and line them around the frame or just down either side.

If you like paint, I could see this painted on canvas with buttons sewn on to the canvas. Or wood with brass nails to hold the ornaments on the tree. Make the snow pocket into a tray at the bottom.

Too bad I don't need a million Advent Calendars!!

I hope that we have inspired you this week to make an Advent Calendar of your own.

Remember, this is part of a whole week of advent calendars. Be sure to check out #1 which is a magnetic tin advent , #3 which is a fabric candy or activity advent, #4 which is a fabric or paper chain advent, and#5 is an embellished felt ornament and fabric advent!

Merry Christmas in July!!!

Katrina

P.S This lives behind a dresser in my bedroom 11 months of the year and the others fit nicely in my Christmas storage bins.

Technorati Tags: christmas,advent calendar,fabric,sewing,mini ornaments,framed,countdown calendar,decoration